Of a Time of War
by Aura Spirit
Summary: The Chaos Emeralds, stones of unlimited power. In the right hands, they lead to peace and prosperity. In the wrong hands, they lead to utter destruction. What if a remorseless, robotic collector discovered them, one such as Trazyn the Infinite?
1. Prologue: Chronomancy

**Of a Time of War: prologue- Chronomancy**

**This will not be a happy story. The M rating does not mean there will be sex. There won't be. This story will get violent and PEOPLE WILL DIE. Enjoy.**

_In the distant future..._

Two figures stood, studying the hologram in front of them. A Prismatic gallery was playing through, depicting an ancient battle between the people of the land and the form of liquid energy. One of the figures watched intently, knowing what was to happen. The other watched grimly, watching what seemed to be a tribe break into a temple of strange creatures, headed straight for a gargantuan jewel mounted in the centre of the temple. A liquid form seeped from it, absorbing some smaller jewels, and transforming quite dramatically. This new being utterly destroyed the attackers, before one of the people disappeared, taking the figure from it. At that point, the Hologram ended, and the two figures faced each other. In the light, both could be seen as made of metal, one of them wearing a hood of sorts. The hooded one spoke.

"This hologram is a projection of a battle countless millennia ago. However, I have reason to believe that those stones exist in a slightly-less-old version of that world. Would it be possible to bring them back to our time through your Chronomancers?"

The other figure stood silently, contemplating the idea. He walked to the window, and studied the stars. After a good few minutes of studying, he turned around.

"It would be possible, but difficult. We would have to find a way to amplify an Aeonstave's power and fuse it with the Webway. However, it has already been done. The stars feel that this is an important event for you, so I have been working on a means of travel. Come with me."

The figure held his hand out. In it were two green crystals. The hooded figure took one, and disappeared in a flash of emerald light. The second one followed. When they reappeared, they were in a vast room, filled with strange technology and crystals. The hooded figure was led to a gateway lined with five azure blue crystals. The hooded figure spoke again.

"How many could be taken through, and how quickly?"

"As many as you want, and as fast as they can get here."

"Excellent."

With several flashes of green energy, a phalanx of androids appeared, all carrying eerily green swords and shields.

"Once we're through, I want an eternity gate sent through, preferably on a Monolith. Is that understood?"

"Of course"

With that, the hooded figure strode up to the gateway, the phalanx following. It reached out, touching the crystal in the centre of the gateway and disappearing in a flash of blue light. Its voice echoed around:

"Those stones will make a fine addition to the halls of Solemnace..."

The rest of the phalanx followed, disappearing through the gateway, into the alien world beyond.

The Webway was a strange place. It bent space, causing dark, corrupt lightning to lance through the hallways. This time was different, as something was giving such an intense energy signature in the destination world that the Webway was a single-track passage through time and space. But things were never simple. The hallway was cracked, with holes dotting path ahead, and the entire corridor was rotating. If they fell, it would be a one-way trip to the void, to be trapped there forever. Retrieval beams didn't work through dimensions, so the unfortunate robot would be forced to self-destruct. Slowly, the group made their way down the corridor to the pulsing light at the end that would serve as their way out. As the phalanx reached it, they disappeared. The hooded figure soon followed, appearing in a field. In the distance, mountains, and the other way, a huge city. The hooded one spoke:

"Let's head towards the mountains. I want a base built inside one of them."

A veil of shadow curled around the robots, spiriting them across the landscape and depositing them halfway up the mountain. The hooded figure spoke again.

"Flayers, fire."

Ghoulish green lightning tore into the rock, breaking it down into its constituent atoms, leaving a shaft in the rock big enough for the robots to pass through. The rest of the robots began swinging their blades with impeccable accuracy, cleaving apart the tunnel into something more like a chamber. In just a few hours, the base was built, with rooms stretching through the length and breadth of the mountain; a hidden fortress, away from prying eyes where the mysterious androids could conduct their nefarious deeds. The hooded robot summoned a hologram, showing its partner from the future.

"Orikan, send through the Monolith. I need some equipment."

"Of course."

With a terrible flash of green energy, the slab-sided bulk of a Monolith materialised in the base, the eldritch gate on the front of the Monolith opened, revealing the vortex within. Said vortex began to glow, beginning to rotate faster before depositing another robot, this one carrying machinery. More began to stride through, placing the machinery throughout the mountain-come-base, turning from a simple cave system into a hidden fortress…

*_Knothole_*

A sudden green flash radiated from the mountains, disturbing the peace of the village and causing mass confusion. Many of the inhabitants looked towards the mountains, contemplating the source of the sudden light. Someone shouted out.

"What was that?"

Another turned to them, answering:

"Probably nothing. Probably just a freak aurora or something. Nothing to worry about."

Little did they know of the terrible danger that they, and the entirety of the planet, were in…

**What do you think? Did I nail it or fail it? New chapters coming soon and surely someone got the hints in this prologue of what this will be about?**

**Check back soon for the latest chapters, y'all. Also, check out my "Ask the Characters" Blog. It's new, and you can ask me questions or the characters in my stories questions. But, don't ask the characters in Incarceration, check out TheModerator's blog instead.**

**My blog's on Tumblr, so if FF botches the link, search for Aura's Dynasty on Tumblr. Or, you can use this link, assuming that it isn't completely broken (which is to say, it probably will be).**

**Aura, out.**


	2. Contact

**Of a Time of War chapter 1**

**The first "true" chapter. Enjoy.**

**-Knothole-**

**The sentries on guard were looking at the mountains across the grassy plane at the edge of the woods. They had seen a green flash at the top of one of the mountains, followed by a persistent green beam of light which had hung there for a minute or so before the light pulsed, a sphere travelling down the beam. Afterwards, the beam had disappeared, leaving an air of unease around the guards. One of them, a brown fox with green eyes, spoke out.**

**"Keep an eye on the mountains. I'm reporting this to Sally."**

**The fox walked into the village and headed for the "Palace"; the largest building in the village where the royalty stayed when they visited. Fortunately for the guards, Sally was already in Knothole on one of her occasional visits to Freedom HQ. The fox walked in, removing his scope lenses: a remarkable invention made by Tails. They worked liked glasses, but had an accurate zoom function with sight lines. Wearing something like that in front of the royalty would be rude. Walking forward, he spoke up:**

**"Excuse me, Princess Sally, but there have been strange lights over the mountains. We're not sure what they are, but we want to find out. Recommend sending a forward scout to provide recon?"**

**The squirrel in question turned around slowly, meeting the guard's gaze with her own. **

**"What kind of lights?"**

**The guard took his scope lens to the computer nearby and plugged it into the correct port. The screen showed the latest recorded footage: the moment of time when the pillar of light had appeared over the mountains, followed by the sphere travelling down and the final green flash. Sally watched, bemused by the ethereal display. She spoke again.**

**"Send a scout to find out what that light was. Keep them in constant radio and video contact. We don't know what that was, so send them on a jetbike."**

**"Yes, my lady."**

**The guard retrieved his scope and headed to the depot. The so-called jetbike was another invention made by tails. It had two modes: bike, which was for manoeuvrability and then jet mode, which allowed the pilot fly at breakneck speeds so long as they flew near to straight. Whilst in jet mode, the bikes were not able to turn any more than 22 degrees in either direction due to the extreme speeds. They could use an Extreme Gear, but their speed pales in comparison to the jetbike. Anyway, there were a staggering 32 kilometres between the mountains and Knothole. A jetbike at full speed could make the journey in just over a minute and a half: their speed rivalled that of Sonic himself. The guard wheeled the jetbike out of the depot and over to the gates before calling on a forward scout. The scout, a short white fox by the name of Blitz came forward and donned his goggles. They would record anything that the pilot sees and stream it back to his operator, which would be NICOLE. Through her, Sally would be waiting for a reason to call Blitz back, send a small military force or start negotiating. Blitz saddled up and turned the bike on. He wheeled it to the edge of the plane and switched to jet mode. Immediately, he began to pick up speed, becoming little more than a blur as the wheels lifted and the thrusters came online. The live feed showed the mountains getting closer by the second, Blitz coming up to the ninety second mark. He switched back to the normal bike, slowing down as he came to the foot of the mountain. Immediately, he could see that something was wrong. There were scorch marks all over the ground and the peak of the mountain was no longer there. On the mountain face, there was a crack almost like a door. There was a strange symbol on the door, a circle with six lines drawing away from it. **

**"Sally, are you seeing this? Can you run a scan on it?"**

**"NICOLE is running a scan now. Hold on."**

**Sally watched the screen, waiting for the results to come through. NICOLE came out with an answer.**

**"The scorch marks indicate that a warp jump has taken place recently, and judging that the peak is gone, something big came through. Be careful around there. The symbol isn't anything that Robotnik has used before. This is new."**

**My Phaeron, the nearby village, designate Knothole, has sent a forward scout to the mountains. He's right outside the seal. Recommended action?"**

**Trazyn was sat in his control centre, surveying the footage from a few seconds ago. They had detected a supersonic blast wave, the source turning out to be some sort of fox on a jet-propelled bike. Trazyn spoke.**

**"I think he may be useful to us. Bring him in. You know what they said about curiosity."**

**"Yes, my Phaeron." The Lord walked away, sending a message to his unit to stay away from the being that was about to enter.**

**To Blitz's great surprise, the seal began to glow. Then the entire face of rock began to move inward before dropping into the floor, forming a staircase leading into the mountain. **

**"Sally, the mountain opened up. I'm entering."**

**"Blitz, listen to me. We don't know what's in there. NICOLE is coming up blank. Stay out. Come back to the villa-"**

**She was cut short by a burst of static. They had lost communication with Blitz. He was on his own.**

**Blitz had walked into the mountain and lost communications as soon as he left the light outdoors. There was no turning back, as the mountain had sealed again, trapping him inside. He took his flashlight and turned it on, illuminating the path ahead. Stairs. At the top, there was a sickly green glow, similar to that of the seal when it had opened. He climbed up to it, revealing a strange sight. **

**He was in some sort of command centre, but at each bank of computers a being of metal sat hooked into it. Each one was easily nine feet tall, a towering construct of silver and green. Blitz was suddenly aware that he was completely outmatched as another construct walked forward. This one looked more regal, a cape on its back and strange orb in its hand. This one grabbed him, moving deceptively fast for something so large. Blitz watched in horror as its expressionless mask began to flow and change in front of him, changing to a more refined mask, a hood of sorts rising up and the cape expanding on its back. A staff materialised in its hands, and it spoke. **

**"Interesting. Most organics would have screamed by this point. This one is either brave or oblivious."**

**Blitz took offence to this, as he hadn't signed up to the defence force for nothing. As a forward scout, he had to ride into danger even if he didn't want to. This robot was not going to shake him up.**

**"I don't know what you are, but I bet Robotnik created you. You don't scare me."**

**This actually made the robot do a double-take. Blitz's words had had an effect. Trazyn wasn't used to people making conversation with him. Usually they're too busy screaming.**

**"You are different. We could use you. Guards, seize him."**

**Immediately, five towering guards stepped forward, armed with huge shields and swords. Blitz took to the most primal animal instinct. **

**He ran.**

**He frantically made his way to where the exit was, down the stairs cut into the mountain. The guards were walking slowly, deliberately, inevitably. Blitz reached the door, but it was sealed. He slammed against the stone face, pounding it with his fists.**

**"Sally! Get me out of here! The door is closed!"**

**Sally was shocked into action when Blitz's voice rang through the speakers. She had lost connection as soon has Blitz had headed inside the mountain. It must have been blocking the signal, so he must be stood right by the door. Straight away she resorted to the emergency teleport module that was attached to Blitz's wrist. Blitz's eyes lit up when the high-pitched whine of the teleport started. It grew in pitch until the light attached to it turned green. He slammed his hand on it as a glowing green blade arced towards his neck. Blitz materialised in Knothole, the guard appearing also, the stasis field giving Blitz a vital split second to dodge the unstoppable arc of the sword.**

**He was too slow. **

**The stasis field broke, and the guard reared back, bringing its sword up again and severing Blitz's left leg, the limb falling away and blood spraying from the wound. The guard was then knocked off balance by an electrical spear being driven into its back. The guard fell, stunned, as Knothole sentries began to reassert a stasis field. The huge robot was dragged into the Holding cells and left in a spacial lock so that it couldn't move. The spacial locks were adapted from Egg Grape technology, minus the soul-sapping and roboticizer process. The guard would not be able move and would be kept under constant surveillance. **

**Blitz was screaming, the stump where his leg was pumping blood out and soaking into the ground. He had torn his shirt and was holding it to the wound in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. He was sedated and taken to the hospital, his leg retrieved by one of the doctors. He was rushed to surgery, the doctors trying to save the fox's life.**

**The guard was being guarded by five sentries. Once again, the mask began to change, the hood and cape sprouting out of the body. Trazyn had appeared.**

**"So, you managed to capture one of my Lychguard. I don't take this sort of behaviour lightly; in fact, I take great offence to it. So tell me: how many could you kill? How long would you last?"**

**The sentries were lost for words. One was about to contact the prison chief when a clutch of small constructs jumped from Trazyn's hood and onto each sentry in turn, burrowing through their ears and taking control of them. **

**"Now, you're all going to be my experiments. Unlock this stasis field."**

**One sentry, a red hawk, went over to the controls and took a key from his neck. He pressed it into a slot and the stasis field blinked out of existence. Trazyn strode free, and teleported back to the mountains, his new experiments following suit. **

**"What was it that you saw inside the mountain?"**

**Blitz was in hospital, lying on his bed while intellectuals questioned him about the beings inside the mountain.**

**"They were tall, easily nine feet. They were bipedal and made from some sort of metal."**

**"Do you know who they were working for?"**

**"They didn't know who Robotnik was, and didn't seem to be working for anyone."**

**The bat interrogating him wrote this down on his pad.**

**"Where did they come from?"**

**"NICOLE said that she detected a warp jump, I think that's how they got here."**

**"What do they want?"**

**"I don't know."**

**The bat stood up, pocketing his notepad. **

**"Thank you, Blitz. We appreciate your cooperation."**

**He left the room, leaving Blitz alone. The door opened again, a well-known fox walking in. He had yellow fur, and two tails, giving him the nickname Tails. He came in and sat down.**

**"Hello, Blitz. Feeling any better?"**

**Blitz just stared. Tails had been the first person that day to ask him how he felt. **

**"I could be better."**

**"I thought as much. I detected someone using my teleport system, and then saw you being carted off here. I saw what you saw inside the mountain. I tapped into your scope so that I could discover something too. I think that NICOLE and I have found out what they are, but I'm not sure if you'll believe me. Do you want to know?"**

**Blitz nodded.**

**"Alright then. They're the Necrons; robots from forty thousand years in the future. They used to be organic, but something took place and they became robotic. They have been sleeping for 60 million years, and they're beginning to wake up in the future, but these ones have time travelled here for some reason. Perhaps they sought help; it's not unheard of that the Necrons have allied with others for a while, but we still don't know what they want."**

**Blitz took this information in. He now knew what his assailants were. They could fight back. If they were robots, they only needed some electromagnetic devices to shut them down.**

**"Tails, if they're robotic, can't we just use electromagnetic things on them?"**

**Tails shook his head.**

**"I'm afraid not. There's a catch, and that catch is that they're made of living metal. This metal repairs itself, so any warriors you strike down just stand up again. Electromagnetism will just stun them."**

**Blitz felt sick. They couldn't do anything after all. The electrical spear had worked for a while, giving them enough time to set up a stasis field to imprison it. **

**"On the lighter side, I made this."**

**Tails was holding out a robotic leg, the open end bristling with pins and electrodes.**

**"I'll give this to nurses. You're getting your leg back."**

**Apologies, one and all, for taking so long to get this chapter out. The summer holidays happened, and I was working on the last chapter to a different story. I will probably get the next one out quicker than this. **


	3. Things to come

**Of a time of war chapter 2**

**Next chapter! Prepare for unforeseen consequences. To clear up confusion in case similar locations come to light, the Necron base mountain will now be called the Lightning Peak (Gauss lightning, that is) and the plane between them and Knothole will be referred to as simply the Great Plane. Some of you will hate me after this chapter. **

-_Lightning Peak_-

Trazyn was scanning the entire planet using technology that he had brought through from Solemnace. With Orikan's help, they had located three strange energy signatures. They were without doubt the artefacts that Trazyn was searching for. However, the signatures seemed to be coming from deep underground, all at different points on the planet. They would be problematic to acquire, but Trazyn was known for finding the unfindable.

From what he had seen during his brief imprisonment, these creatures or "Mobians" had a basic knowledge of stasis fields and technological weaponry. Therefore, they would be of little threat if the Flayed Ones got there first, which they would. Opposition is infinitely less threat when they have been reduced to lacerated corpses.

A blip on the radar disrupted his train of thought. Something was moving towards them at almost the speed of sound. From what the screen said, it wasn't even a vehicle.

"A completely organic object moving in excess of the speed of sound. Impossible. Operators, get me a scan on it. Find out what it is."

"Yes, my Phaeron."

A hologram appeared, showing a sphere of vector lines. As the image pulsed, it became bipedal, spines growing out of the back of its now-apparent head. Trazyn looked on in fascination.

"It's a hedgehog, an anthropomorphic hedgehog. How it can run that fast is incomputable. Recommended action: capture and experiment."

Trazyn came to a quick answer.

"Let's see how fast it can run without legs. It should be easier to capture it then. When it gets into range, fire at will."

Trazyn turned away, before remembering something else.

"Get me some background checks on this "Robotnik" person. I have a feeling that he could be useful."

-The Great Plane-

Sonic was out on his standard morning run. He had been away sorting out another of Robotnik's nefarious schemes. It had taken long enough, and Sonic was exhausted when he got back to Knothole. After waking up, he was back to his regular routine of running, jumping and just being the Blue Blur. He was just reaching the limits of the Great Plane when a bolt of green energy flew toward his legs. His heightened reactions allowed him to dodge, the bolt vaporising the ground where he had just been. He looked up to see another bolt of energy streaking towards him. This one came close to hitting home, vaporising the fur on his leg. The lightning was cold, cooling as the air around it was atomised. Sonic set off at full speed, dodging the green lightning as it came, heading towards the Lightning Peak. He closed the gap very quickly, reaching the base of the mountain and running straight up the face. The lightning seemed to be coming from the summit, so he charged up and jumped into the air; looking down, the summit was gone, in its place a crater that was bristling with unfamiliar technology. The guns inside swivelled around, tracking him before firing another deadly salvo of green lightning. Sonic curled up, falling faster and landing inside the base and on top of the entity that was firing at him. It was some sort of robot, and there were about five of them. He made quick work of them, the automata falling to the ground. He was just about to head into the mountain when electrical sounds behind him caught his attention. He turned around and was faced by the five robots he had just destroyed. He set off again, driving the machines into the ground, once again they stood up, heads retrieved by metallic hands and placed onto necks. He beat them down again, kicking each different body part away to prolong their reassembly. He headed into the mountain, searching for what controlled the robots he had just seen. He reached what looked like a hangar of some sort, one which had many crescent-shaped craft in a precisely organised formation. Seeing some sort of weapon underneath it, he broke the first one, and immediately an alarm screeched throughout the base, a chattering swarm of miniature constructs swarming from the floor and latching onto Sonic, the scarabs burrowing into his flesh. He screamed out in pain as they did so, falling to the floor, his blood dripping from countless puncture wounds on his body. He got up and ran away, out of the peak and back down the mountain, crossing the Plane as fast as he could to get back to the safety of Knothole.

-Knothole-

"Tails, just how do you know this? How can you know about these "Necrons"!?"

Blitz was irate at the fact that Tails had knowledge of these merciless automata.

"Blitz, please calm down, I'll tell you how. Choose to believe me or not."

{Flashback- Knothole}

_Tails was in his workshop working on his transport pad, adding the components for his latest and most ambitious project ever: time travel. Inside his machine was a glass sphere that contained a wisp of pure Chaos Force that he had siphoned from himself the last time he had activated his Super form. Around the sphere were many pins and electrodes, all of them attached to a modified teleport device that he had created. Also inside the console was a digital calendar clock, to aid the precision of his time travel. He was just putting the finishing touches on, almost ready to remove the inhibitors on the Chaos Sphere. He removed the rigs and the machine lit up, complete._

_"It's working, it's online! Now to test it."_

_He ran to his wardrobe, pulling out a deep blue armoured jumpsuit. Slipping into it and fastening it, he took his wrist module and attached it. It contained a scanner, radar, a contained Chaos essence for self-defence and an Emergency Temporal Shunt, in case of emergencies. While he might have been heading to a low-tech time, he still needed to be ready for anything. He stepped onto the panel, the shutters coming down and the panel rising up the machine. He typed his aim into the console; visiting the ancient human poet known as Shakespeare. Tails hit enter and the transport pad activated, gathering power and collecting it into spheres that orbited around Tails. Something sparked inside, and the pad dropped a few feet- something had gone terribly wrong. Before he could react, Tails disappeared in a flash of green energy, catapulted thousands of years through time._

_-Zantragora-_

_When he came to, Tails was in the middle of some sort of blasted field, craters dotting the blackened earth. He looked at his temporal signature, another system built into his machine that told him when he was. Looking at it, he had gone the wrong way in time, instead of going back to the 16th century he was sent into the 41st millennia. He got up and began to walk across the field, becoming more convinced that it was a battlefield. Bodies, badly charred and missing limbs dotted the battlefield, the stench of death hanging in the air. Looking ahead, he could see some sort of figure in a hood hovering above the ground. It was tall, Tails could see that from his position. This figure also wielded a huge scythe. It appeared to be absorbing the death around it. Tails was scared just by looking at this entity._

_He was just about to carry on walking when a claw shot out of the ground. Many more soon followed; grotesque creatures were crawling out of the ground around him, blood dripping from the hides of the luckless victims before him. Their hands were horribly twisted into large cutting blades. The voices of the creatures screeched out, their gibbering insanity attracting the attention of the hooded being, turning towards Tails and flitting across the battlefield, its huge scythe raised far above its head, ready to strike. The scythe fell with shocking accuracy, Tails dodging it and feeling the blade come within millimetres of his neck. Missing Tails, the scythe continuing its devastating arc and rending the head from one of the carrion creatures. It fell to the ground, lying still for a moment before it sat up, still headless, and retrieved its head from its resting place, reattaching it to its neck. Tails scanned the creature as he ran._

_"Database, find the nearest reliable source and find out what this creature is and how it can be killed."_

_His scanner found a source almost immediately and came out with an answer_

_"Carrion creatures identified as Flayed Ones, Necron. Hooded entity identified as C'Tan shard of the Nightbringer. Recommended action, run."_

_Tails ran and took to the skies, flying as fast as he could._

_"Database, background check: subject, Necron."_

_The database played the file, a sense of dread growing inside Tails as it did so._

_"Necrons, formerly Necrontyr. Necrons are robotic war machines. Their sole purpose is to reclaim the universe after sleeping for 60 million years._

_Necrons are constructed from a semi-sentient alloy, living metal that repairs the Necron. They can resurrect so long as they are not critically damaged. Their weapons strip materials to their constituent atoms. Number of Necrons: unknown."_

_Tails had heard enough. He activated the Temporal Shunt's systems. They would take an hour to build enough energy to transport him. He was just beginning to slow down when shadows billowed from a figure below. Tails was completely caught inside them, knocked out cold before he hit the ground. He hit the ground and didn't get up. The figure that had shot him strode up to his body on four legs. _

_"How... interesting. I have never seen something like this before."_

_Szeras stood over Tails and signalled to a Spyder to collect his body. It hovered over, rearing up and extending its legs, a green sphere drawing Tails in. Szeras then called for a Night Scythe to pick him up, the supersonic craft arriving within minutes and transporting Szeras and the Spyder to his laboratory. The Spyder placed Tails' limp body on the experimentation table and strapped him into place. The quantum shield technology was activated, the table wreathed in strange energies._

_Szeras took a large needle and injected the contents into Tails. He awoke quickly as the adrenalin did its job._

_"Tell me, alien, do you have any idea where you are or how your chances of survival have dropped to zero?"_

_Tails just stared at the blank face of the Necron in front of him._

_"What makes you different from the others?"_

_The robot just laughed, a harsh, grating notice that made Tails recoil. _

_"You really have no idea. Let me educate you: you are in the 41st millennia, in possession of the Tomb World Zantragora. You are not going to like existence from now on. They say that even the denizens of the Warp can hear the screams from the Blood Vats. Unfortunately for you, you're a species that I have never seen before. You can expect an agonising and painful, but not necessarily fast death. Let us begin."_

_With that, he lifted up an axe, the edge of it crackling with a ghoulish green energy, and cut off Tails' fingers on his right hand. Tails screamed out in pain, the axe cleaving through his bones with no resistance, bouncing as it hit the quantum shielding. Tails' blood spilled across the table, and Szeras scooped up the severed appendages. He examined them closely, placing each one in a jar of unidentifiable liquid. He strode back to the table, lifting the axe again and bringing it down at Tails' wrist. A fresh spray of blood washed across the table and onto Szeras' torso. Tails screamed again, writhing on the table as Szeras did his grisly work. Szeras examined his hand, taking some of the blood in a separate vial and placing the hand in a jar. _

_"Now then, where next?"_

_He lifted the axe, moving it to different place over Tails' helpless form. All Tails could do was wait for the axe to fall again. _

_"Please... stop... I can will help you... In any way I can..."_

_Szeras turned and looked, it felt as if he were smiling._

_"Help me? How naïve. We don't need your help. Your technologies are majorly eclipsed compared to the Necrons, especially yours, Xenos. I'm afraid your existence will be filled with pain until I identify your race."_

_A faint beep echoed throughout the lab, it came from Tails' wrist module. A green light lit up on the screen along with three words which seemed to glow far more than they should have._

_"TEMPORAL SHUNT READY"_

_Unfortunately, Szeras had also heard it. He located the module and cut it from Tail's arm._

_"What's this? A "Temporal shunt"? Maybe I misjudged you. I should be focussing on taking that knowledge of yours."_

_He pulled some sort of headset from a shelf and placed it over Tails' head. He flicked a switch and Tails screamed again as electricity coursed through his head. Szeras studied a screen as it came up with the results. Even the soulless construct seemed surprised at what he saw._

_"An IQ of over... 300? _300_!? For a mortal Xenos? That's not possible."_

_He upped the power, Tails' screaming reaching a higher pitch as the pain worsened, the machine probing his mind and pulling the contents asunder. Tails felt it pull at something he had kept locked away, never to be used._

_"No... Stop the scan... You won't like what you'll unleash..." he cried out weakly._

_"I'm sure you have one of your mighty Chaos Gods on your side, but I won't be stopping."_

_With that, he pulled the switch down to the maximum setting. Something inside Tails was shattered, a prison with its gates blown open. Something inside forced its way out, roaring as it reached the conscious mind. Szeras stepped back as the scanner was evaporated, the metal twisting and decaying into dust, the dust becoming atoms. The quantum shields on the table went next, immaterial cracks spreading across it until it splintered, fragments of light spreading out in all directions before dissipating. Something forced its way _out_ of Tails' chest, a head, follows by a neck and shoulders, great arms following after. The entity looked like Tails, but it was more... sinister. It had the face of an insane animal, the fur matter and the teeth lengthened to a horrific degree. The Chaos Force within Tails flew out, screeching as it went. It tore great fissures into the walls and floor, destroying all of the foul experiments that had taken place. Next it turned to Szeras, flying over to him and raising its claws. Szeras just chuckled and disappeared in a flash of green light. Suddenly, the conduit between Tails and his Chaos force began to fray, sinking back inside of Tails and dragging the ghost with it. Once it was inside, Tails went limp, recovering his strength before rolling off the table and crawling to where he had seen his module fall. He hit the Shunt button, tensing up as spheres of energy began to appear, orbiting around him. He stood up, waiting for the jump and cradling his wrist, reduced to a stump. The door at the end of the lab pulled open, Szeras appearing with a number of other humanoid robots, each equipped with a large Warscythe. Their eyes met, and Szeras uttered a single command. _

_"Seize him!"_

_One of the Lychguard strode up to the orbiting spheres and raised his scythe. It made contact with the field and stuck, wedged in the strands of temporal energy. The Lychguard began to scream, a piercing, metallic screech that caused Tails to wince. The guard began to corrode, the rot spreading up the scythe and contaminating its body. Each part touched by the rot turned into sand, drifting to the floor. Szeras just looked to Tails, to the pile of sand on the floor and back to Tails. As a symbol of mockery, Tails did a weak salute and picked up the axe that Szeras had dropped earlier before the spheres converged and whisked Tails through time in a flash of blue light. He arrived back on his warp pad, and looked at the clock. He had only been gone for thirty seconds. He fell to the floor, using his module as a phone. _

_"Is that the hospital? This is Tails. I require assistance..."_

{Flashback ends}

Blitz just looked at Tails, slack jawed as he finished his story. He was speechless. On one hand, the story was ridiculous. Axes that could cut through molecules? Fragments of star gods? The whole thing just sounded too far-fetched.

But on the other hand, Tails was reputable, and was known for being honest. He was practically unrivalled in his technological prowess. On top of that, a robot like the ones he had explained.

"Think about it, Blitz. Is it really so hard to believe? We have the Zone of Silence, we have Moebius. I only travelled in time. As far as I could tell, I was in the same universe as this one. The future is a dark place, but I feel that where I was only gave me a glimpse of the true extent of that future. Why do you think I always wear these gloves?"

He took hold of his right glove and pulled it off, revealing the robotic hand underneath. He demonstrated its authenticity by moving it and twisting the fingers around. Blitz stared at it.

"And the axe"?

Tails took the bag from his shoulder and opened it, carefully pulling the axe out. As if to demonstrate its cutting power, he rotated the axe so that the blade faced upwards and dropped an apple onto it. The apple fell to the ground in two halves.

"I later found out that it was called a "Hyperphase Sword", and that the blade dances on the edge of reality."

"And the ghost you mentioned? Is it contained?"

Tails shuddered, clearly not fond of the memory, before answering.

"It is called a Revenant, a swarm of terrible likenesses. It's my bad side, one that I would have become if I had used by Chaos Power too often. There is no reason in a Revenant: once it's free, it will destroy anything that comes too close. It takes a lot of mental power to prevent it from taking over, but it will do anything to protect its host body. The only way to kill a Revenant is to kill the host."

"If you can control it, why not use it to-"

Blitz was cut off as a nurse, a purple hedgehog wearing surgeon robes barged into the room. Tails quickly pulled his glove back on and put the axe back into his bag.

"Tails, Sonic is here. He's hurt: badly."

Tails stood up in alarm.

"How badly?"

The nurse swallowed nervously.

"He's been infested by something, but we can't tell what. From a few scans, they're very small and they're in his blood."

As Tails ran off to tend to his stricken friend, he, or anyone else, did not realise the huge danger they were in.

-_Badlands_-

"So, Mr Robotnik, are we at an agreement? You use that engineering of yours to help us, and we'll spare you when the change comes to light?"

Trazyn, or at least, a substitute of Trazyn, stood over Robotnik as he cowered in the corner of the room.

"Yes, yes! We have an agreement! Just please don't destroy my machines!"

Trazyn chuckled. There was always a way to break someone. He had quickly deduced that this obese scientist loved his machines more than anything else, so three vaporised Roboticizers and a broken finger later, Robotnik had sworn his allegiance. Little did he know that he wasn't going to be spared, only used to carry out the C'Tan's will. The future held no place for this man. All would fall before the inevitability of the Necrons' advance.

**Well, there you go. Poor Tails. I know some of you will hate me right now. Rate and review, your input allows me to fix things.**


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